Teak wood and Thai teak crafts
About Teak Wood
For so long, heard people talking about teakwood, so called "king of all wood", as such, how precious they are, how good they are as for ship-building, furniture and wood-carvings. The curiosity has got me since then. Finally in 2012, I’ve got my chance to make a journey to cross Northern Thailand through up to Myanmar and Laos border where the best teakwood grown and best teakwood crafts carved. Below are a few notes came out of my trip.
The name "Teak" commonly refers to the tropical hardwood tree species called "Tectona Grandis" which mainly can be seen in Southeast Asian countries especially around Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia with more than one third of the world's productions from Myanmar and Northern Thailand region. It can grow up to around 40m tall with big leaves in 15 to 40 cm long.
Teak trees found in Chiang Rai, Northern Thailand. More photoes on our Facebook Album
As one of the most precious wood for furniture (and once #1 choice for ship-building in the old time), teak gained its fame for its beautiful grains and texture with a wide range of colours from gray to golden (golden colour commonly believed to be the best and most priced). Teakwood's natural oils make it incredibly durable under tough conditions such as outdoors and in salted water; it's also very resistant to termite and other pests. Some pieces found from over 1,000 years ago proves that "it's second to none" when comes durability.
Old Teak
"Old Teak" refers to timbers logged from natural-grown old teak trees, in Thailand particularly, also commonly refers to teakwood materials which is re-used from demolished old Thai houses. Before the modern developments in housing industry, teakwood was widely used for centuries in house-building for columns, beams, doors and widow frames.
As the most sought-after precious hardwood, newly logged old teak trees can be considered almost extinct after centuries of uncontrolled logging (in some countries deemed even illegal for natural-grown teakwood logging), so when you walked through a furniture store and are told of "old teak", almost certain that it refers to reused teakwood from old building materials.
Thai Style Temple made of teakwood. More photoes on our Facebook Album
Thai teakwood carvings-Thawan Duchanee Museum, ChiangRai, Thailand. More photoes on our Facebook Album
Thai Old Teakwood products. All products available on our product pages through our website.
New Teak
Due to its popularity over centuries, old teak (or old-growth teak) price keeps rising day by day which led to the growth of “Teak Plantation” in countries like Indonesia and Thailand. Teak timber from plantation is commonly called "New Teak" which is a more sustainable and less costly supply of teakwood while believed to be of less durable and less resistant to weather conditions and pests. New teak products can usually be found in furniture and smaller housewares rather than building materials and boat decks. It gains its popularity over decades amongst precious hardwood for its durability and lower price comparing to "old teak".